


Lady Harding

by RedEris



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-01
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-05-17 13:27:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5871352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedEris/pseuds/RedEris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lace Harding travels to Val Royeaux after the Inquisition defeats Corypheus to visit Bram Kenric.  She's not sure what they are to each other yet, but she doesn't always mind when he calls her Lady Harding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lady Harding

Out on the water, the breeze was almost enough to carry away the stench of rotting seaweed and tar and fish in sun. Enough, at least, to let her immerse herself in the sparkle of light on the water, the grandeur of the statues framing a bridge deeper in the harbor. Elegant, curling water taxis and lumbering barges moved among the larger ships. A crane on the docks creaked loudly as it strained under the weight of a net full of crates, a team of shirtless men heaving to bring the load ashore. 

Val Royeaux—bigger and busier and just possibly shinier than anywhere she’d seen yet.

The ship was close enough to the docks now that she could tell where it must be heading, and she scanned the shifting, purposeful crowds for—there! Tall and, as always, surprisingly broad. Not wearing armor here in the city, dressed neatly but not fashionably, not for Orlesians—but of course he wasn’t Orlesian, thank the Maker. And now he’d spotted her, and she was close enough to see his face light up as he waved both arms above his head, bouncing on his toes like an excited puppy. She laughed at herself, but her heart beat faster anyway. She smiled broadly and waved back before leaving the railing to collect her gear.

He was there in front of her as soon as her feet hit the docks. 

“Lace! I can hardly believe you’re really here! Are you well? Did the journey suit you?”

It had suited her quite well, to her surprise. She’d enjoyed the constant motion, and enjoyed watching man and elf as they went about the arcane and fascinating business of sailing. She’d even enjoyed the unaccustomed inactivity, though she wasn’t likely to tell him how much of her downtime she’d spent re-reading his letters and smiling to herself.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“Are you sure? You needn’t spare me. I know Colette felt ill the entire time, and when my brother came to visit, his wife suffered terribly from the—“

She reached out and squeezed his hand. “Bram. I’m fine.”

Two bright pink spots came up on his cheeks as he glanced down at their hands.

“Right, sorry. I’m just…very excited. I can hardly wait to show you everything—the Grand Cathedral, the Sun Gates, the Summer Bazaar, the Chantry Courtyard, there’s a little bakery on the corner with these rolls, they have…there’s nothing like them in Starkhaven, really…I’m a little bit addicted to them, I’m afraid. And of course you’ll see the University Library and the Water Gardens and I’m sorry, I know I’m babbling. I just…ah…”

Kenric fell silent, the pink spots on his cheeks deepening to a florid red and spreading towards his jawline. He shuffled nervously, opened his mouth and then closed it again. Lace looked up at him and considered.

They hadn’t…exactly defined their relationship before he’d returned to the University to continue his work and she’d gone off to scout the next Maker-forsaken corner of Thedas. It had been so fast, in retrospect—her teasing, his puppy-eyed awe—she hadn’t been serious at all at first, he was just so absurdly cute and so different from any of the farm kids and soldiers she’d known before. And the way he looked when he talked to her, when he asked her questions as if _she_ were an expert…well. Then she’d discovered that she _did_ have things to say, and they had almost nothing in common, you’d think, but they both just had a lot to say somehow. And then, well…after the dragon, there had been several…very pleasant nights. 

And she still hadn’t thought it was serious, not _really_ really, she was never serious, these things came and went and flirting was fun. But she’d agreed to write, and they’d written and written through what had turned out to be some incredibly difficult times, and he’d always been there, a sympathetic ear on the other side of the pen, and somehow she’d ended up telling him things she hadn’t told anyone around her. Now after the months of writing their relationship was somehow more than it had been when they’d just shared a bed, but neither of them knew exactly _what_ it was.

But he’d asked, and she’d come—not that that _had_ to mean anything, accepting a friend’s invitation to see the grandest city of the Orlesian Empire. She knew that wasn’t why she’d come, though.

Whatever this was, whatever they decided it should be, for however long—well, she thought it might be serious. So she smirked up at him and she took his free hand with hers.

“I think you should kiss me.”

Bram’s face transformed when he smiled. She thought it might be one of the most beautiful things she’d seen. He dropped to one knee, which put him looking up at her just slightly.

“Your wish is my command, Lady Harding.”

**Author's Note:**

> I have a pretty good idea of what Part 2 of this would look like but we'll see when I write it.


End file.
